melannen: Commander Valentine of Alpha Squad Seven, a red-haired female Nick Fury in space, smoking contemplatively (Default)
melannen ([personal profile] melannen) wrote2010-12-01 09:20 pm

On categories of things.

I've been messing around on LT a bit - I did some things I'd been putting off, and rewarded myself with some book cataloging (is a book on saints' cults in medieval Christendom religion, mythology, folklore, history, or magic? And how does that have to affect where I put similar books that aren't Christian-flavored? Arggh.) And alongside the usual grey areas of cataloging, I ended up wading into an argument on how we should list gender in the drop-down on the crowdsourced author pages for trans authors. (I don't have all the answers, but at this point I'm at least confident to know when I can say: No, sir, you are wrong.)

Anyway. Right now I'm sick of all this categorizing of things that cannot be categorized. You know what is much nicer? Numbers! And [personal profile] espreite just posted a v. v. serious entry about privilege and oppression among numbers. So I have made a poll!

...yes, these are all real mathematical concepts of the form "the category of ---- numbers". You can look them up if you don't believe me! Or you can just go by the closest meaning you know in standard English. ;)

Poll #5244 Which numbers describe your identities most accurately?
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 20


My identity is:

View Answers

Natural
6 (30.0%)

Integral
4 (20.0%)

Rational
8 (40.0%)

Irrational
5 (25.0%)

Real
9 (45.0%)

Imaginary
7 (35.0%)

Complex
10 (50.0%)

Binary
2 (10.0%)

Decimal
0 (0.0%)

Roman
0 (0.0%)

Fractional
2 (10.0%)

Scientific
6 (30.0%)

Positive
5 (25.0%)

Negative
3 (15.0%)

Unsigned
2 (10.0%)

Odd
9 (45.0%)

Even
4 (20.0%)

Prime
4 (20.0%)

Composite
4 (20.0%)

Square
1 (5.0%)

Constant
2 (10.0%)

Transcendental
1 (5.0%)

Algebraic
2 (10.0%)

Figurate
0 (0.0%)

Non-zero
3 (15.0%)

Infinite
3 (15.0%)

Transinfinite
1 (5.0%)

Infinitesimal
2 (10.0%)

Hyperreal
2 (10.0%)

Surreal
3 (15.0%)

Automorphic
1 (5.0%)

Countable
2 (10.0%)

Uncountable
3 (15.0%)

Definable
1 (5.0%)

Indefinite
2 (10.0%)

Abstract
3 (15.0%)

Hypercomplex
1 (5.0%)

Large
0 (0.0%)

Fictitious
4 (20.0%)

Fuzzy
8 (40.0%)

Denominate
0 (0.0%)

Ideal
0 (0.0%)

Illegal
2 (10.0%)

Discrete
3 (15.0%)

Round
3 (15.0%)

Surcomplex
0 (0.0%)

Polygonal
0 (0.0%)

Rough
0 (0.0%)

Regular
1 (5.0%)

Amicable
6 (30.0%)

Deficient
1 (5.0%)

Extravagant
2 (10.0%)

Fortunate
3 (15.0%)

Friendly
4 (20.0%)

Frugal
4 (20.0%)

Bicomplex
3 (15.0%)

Smooth
0 (0.0%)

Lucky
1 (5.0%)

Narcissistic
1 (5.0%)

Polite
6 (30.0%)

Practical
3 (15.0%)

Quasiperfect
0 (0.0%)

Semiperfect
2 (10.0%)

Superperfect
0 (0.0%)

Hyperperfect
0 (0.0%)

Perfect
0 (0.0%)

Almost perfect
2 (10.0%)

Unusual
8 (40.0%)

Weird
11 (55.0%)

Happy
5 (25.0%)

Sad
4 (20.0%)

Powerful
2 (10.0%)

Normal
2 (10.0%)

Heteromecic
2 (10.0%)

Self
7 (35.0%)

Intersection
3 (15.0%)

Dual
2 (10.0%)

Whole
2 (10.0%)

Primeval
1 (5.0%)

Untouchable
2 (10.0%)

Parasitic
0 (0.0%)

Palindromic
1 (5.0%)

Cyclic
3 (15.0%)

Pandigital
0 (0.0%)

Multicomplex
1 (5.0%)

Computable
0 (0.0%)

Congruent
3 (15.0%)

Polydivisible
3 (15.0%)

Vampire
2 (10.0%)

Split-complex
1 (5.0%)

Amenable
1 (5.0%)

Interesting
10 (50.0%)

Chromatic
3 (15.0%)

Superparticular
1 (5.0%)

Sublime
2 (10.0%)

Nope, you left one out, I need a text box.



(Really. If numbers are that complicated, do the rest of us have any hope?)
seekingferret: Two warning signs one above the other. 1) Falling Rocks. 2) Falling Rocs. (Default)

[personal profile] seekingferret 2010-12-02 01:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Interesting Numbers have always been my favorite. Even if you don't look up the whole list (and you'll find some other great ones if you do), look up Interesting Numbers. It will make you laugh, I promise.
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)

[personal profile] sophia_sol 2010-12-02 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
You are absolutely right; I laughed. That is AWESOME.